Promote the new development of the study of world ancient history

From November 13th to 15th, the academic seminar "2021 China World Ancient History Annual Conference and Commemoration of the 90th Anniversary of the Birth of Mr. Liu Wenpeng" was held in Tongliao City, sponsored by the Ancient History Professional Committee of the China World Ancient medieval History Research Association and hosted by the School of Law and History of Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities. More than 300 scholars participated in the conference in a combination of online and offline.

First, the issue of ancient world economy and politics has always been an important topic in the study of the world's ancient history, and there is still no shortage of new perspectives to discuss this issue at this conference. Yan Shaoxiang, chairman of the Chinese Society for the Study of World Ancient and Medieval History and professor at the School of History of Capital Normal University, analyzed the so-called pro-Persian problem of Paulsanias and believed that the main evidence provided by Thucydides may be forged after the fact. The real reason for The fall of Pasanias was not whether he was really pro-Persian, but rather his own ostentatious behavior that exacerbated his conflict with the Spartan city-state system, leading to the fate of being convicted. Professor Li Zheng of the School of Foreign Chinese of Peking University discussed the internal affairs construction of Akkadian and the early stage of hittite countries, and pointed out that the reference, absorption and use of Akkadian language was an important part of the internal affairs construction in the early stage of Hittite. Zhu Hongjun, a professor at the School of History at Nanjing University, explored the stability of Spartan politics from the perspective of the royal power struggle. Wang Yue, a lecturer in the Department of History at East China Normal University, analyzed the foreign image represented by Hannibal in the eyes of the Romans. He Libo, associate professor of the Center for The Study of History of the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (Zhuhai) of Beijing Normal University, conducted a historical investigation of the formation path of the head of state system of the Roman Empire. Li Dawei, associate professor of the School of History of Liaoning University, understood Augustus's tax reform from the perspective of provincial social and economic management, and discussed the provincial management system and management ideas of the Roman Empire. Sun Simeng, an assistant researcher at the Institute of World History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, examined the political role of women in the Byzantine royal family based on coinage. Yang Xi, a lecturer at the School of Law and History of Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities, analyzed the source, operation and protection of ancient Egyptian temple real estate, and believed that the temple played a role in revitalizing the circulation of goods and was an important support for the smooth operation of the ancient Egyptian economy.

Second, ancient world religions are an important field of world ancient history research, and they are also the focus of discussion among the participating scholars. Ouyang Xiaoli, a professor in the Department of History at Fudan University, took the adoption of abandoned babies as the research object and explored the charitable function of the early temples in the Lianghe River Basin. Zhang Yen, a professor at the School of History at Taishan University, analyzed the religious decrees of the Roman Empire in the 4th and 6th centuries, and pointed out that these decrees effectively promoted the process of Christianization in the Roman Empire and laid hidden dangers for the secularization of the church and the dispute between religious and secular. Zhao Faxin, associate professor of the School of Tourism and History and Culture of Southwest University for Nationalities, analyzed and discussed the secular characteristics of monastic life in the Byzantine Empire. Ji Qinghong, associate professor of the School of History and Culture of Lanzhou University, placed the teacher qualification decree and its follow-up "letters" in the social transformation of Christianity gradually replacing polytheism, examined the context, relevance and practical effects of its emergence, and combined with the theological ideas and philosophical concepts in Julian's works, analyzed the comments of early Christian elites and polytheistic historians on his cultural and educational policies. Jiang Jiayu, a lecturer at the School of History of Capital Normal University, explored the customs, etiquette and taboo culture in the Hittite Antakhshu festival. Nan Shuhua, a lecturer at the School of Law and History of Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities, started from the theme of justice contained in the myth of Osiris, and explored the construction of the myth and its worship on the ancient Egyptian idea of justice.

Third, the interaction of civilizations in the ancient world. Lin Ying, a professor in the Department of History at Sun Yat-sen University, explores the "Orient" in the world geography concept of the early Byzantine Empire. Yuan, a professor at the School of History and Culture of Tianjin Normal University, discussed the diplomatic marriage between Egypt and the great powers of West Asia during the Amalna era. Guo Zilin, a researcher at the Institute of World History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, started from the unity of theory and historical logic to analyze the reasons for the demise of ancient Egyptian civilization. Wang Huan, associate professor at the Institute of Global Civilization History of Shanghai Chinese University, and Dai Xin, associate professor at the School of History and Culture of Central China Normal University, explored Egyptian society during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Zhu Yizhang, a teacher in the History Department of Jinan University, analyzed the image of a drunken camel sac unearthed from the Sui Tomb in Xi'an. Guo Yunyan, associate professor at the School of History at Hebei University, analyzed the spread and fusion of Byzantine gold coins on the Silk Road. Li Qiang, associate professor of the School of History and Culture of Northeast Normal University, analyzed the civilization exchanges between Byzantium and the Eurasian steppe from the perspective of gold coin diplomacy. Qi Xiaoyan, associate professor of the Department of History, Culture and Tourism Management of Changzhi University, used the Coin as the starting point to analyze the cultural characteristics it reflected, and discussed the role of the Qianda Empire in the Silk Road trade in the context of East-West exchanges. Meng Fanqing, a lecturer at the School of History and Culture of Henan Normal University, used the coin head as an example to explore the influence of queens in the Hellenistic period on the royal women of the early Roman Empire.

Fourth, the interpretation and use of ancient texts. Xu Jialing, a professor at the School of History and Culture of Northeast Normal University, shared the post-translation miscellaneous feelings of the newly compiled Cambridge Medieval History. Xu Songyan, a professor at the School of History and Culture of Southwest University, examined Xenophon's "History of Greece" and "The Long March" and believed that the fundamental reason for the very different evaluations lies in the perspective and position of the critics. Liu Jian, a researcher at the Institute of World History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, sorted out the relationship between the Two River Basins and the Gulf region at different stages and under different scenarios from the description of "going to the sea" in ancient Lianghe River Basin documents. Xu Xiaoxu, a professor at the School of History of Chinese University, reconstructed the history of the Westward Migration of the Yue clan on the basis of re-reading the Greek and Latin historical materials and the Chinese historical materials, believing that the Yue people were the royal tribe of the Tocharians. Bai Chunxiao, a professor at the School of History of Anhui Normal University, compared the Paladin ben and the Lao Leng Zho ben of the Peloponnesian War History. Lü Houliang, an associate researcher at the Institute of World History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that Tesias' unique historical narrative model does not come from the Orientalist view of history, but from the common continuation of ancient Greek poetic literature and herodotus' historical tradition in the prose style of Persian history. Mei Hualong, an assistant professor at Peking University's School of Foreign Chinese, examined the "brotherly" relationship between the northern and southern kingdoms in ancient Hebrew literature.

Fifth, the issues of art, health care, women and social life in the ancient world received widespread attention. Professor Yi Zhaoyin of the School of Humanities of Shanghai Normal University analyzed the social and cultural meaning of women's clothing in ancient Greece. Yu Dianli, deputy general manager of China Publishing and Media Co., Ltd., discussed the necessity and possibility of establishing a methodology of art history. Professor Li Xiaodong of the Institute of History of World Classical Civilizations of Northeast Normal University shared the enlightenment brought by the archaeological experience of participating in the Karnak Multi-Pillar Hall. Chen Yue, associate professor of the School of History of Anhui Normal University, discussed the interaction between the public medical system of the Byzantine Empire and the urban doctor system, imperial finance, and emperor system in the eastern Mediterranean from the perspectives of legal, political and social history. Wang Shichao, a lecturer at the School of Convention and Tourism of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, combined the basic issues of immigration history with the problems of spatial psychology, and explored the psychological changes of immigrants in spatial transformation. Zhang Xuqiang, lecturer at the School of History and Culture of Southwest University, introduced The contribution of Mr. Lin Zhichun (pen name "Rizhi") to the discipline of Assyria studies in China. Liu Yangang, associate professor of the Department of History of East China Normal University, used the history textbook of Kazakhstan as an example to analyze the focus of general attention and common historical narrative methods of history education in the construction of national identity. Professor He Yuanguo of the School of History of Wuhan University discusses cultural self-confidence in The differences between Chinese and Greek languages. Chen Zhiqiang, a professor at Nankai University's School of History, encouraged young scholars to develop the habit of paying attention to the details of research.

Sixth, one of the topics of the conference was to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the birth of Liu Wenpeng (1931-2007), a famous world historian in China and the founder of Chinese Egyptology. At the opening ceremony, Yu Pei, researcher of the Institute of World History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Jiang Guishi, professor of Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities (former dean of Inner Mongolia Normal College for Nationalities); Guo Xiaoling, professor of the School of History of Beijing Normal University; Yang Juping, professor of the School of History of Nankai University; Chen Heng, vice president of Shanghai Normal University; Wang Haili, professor of the School of History of Beijing Normal University; and Han Zhibin, professor of the Middle East Research Institute of Northwest University, respectively made commemorative speeches. Professors Huang Yang and Jin Shoufu of the Department of History of Fudan University witnessed the unveiling ceremony of the bronze statue of Liu Wenpeng.

The conference presented the following characteristics: first, the excavation and utilization of historical materials continue to deepen, and the reinterpretation of historical documents helps to understand history from different angles; second, it shows an interdisciplinary and diversified development trend, indicating that the research horizons of ancient history in the world are constantly expanding and interdisciplinary exchanges are getting closer; third, the number of papers submitted by master's and doctoral students has increased significantly, and the research team has continued to grow. The conference presented the latest academic trends, broadened the research horizon, and promoted the construction of the discipline system, academic system and discourse system of China's ancient world history.

(This paper is a phased result of the National Social Science Foundation project "Research on the History of Christian Policy in the Roman-Byzantine Empire" (20ASS002))

(Author Affilications:School of Law and History, Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities)

Editor: Chen Xuanyu